Winter Delights
by Yami Roojii
Summary: Mai and Duke end up spending the day together. One shot.


I had no plot in mind at all when I started and made it up as I went along, so sorry for anything odd that might be lurking in there, plot-wise.

Hope you likey. :)

* * *

"What do you mean you've never tried Turkish Delight?" He asked, eyes wide in wonder.

"I've never even heard of the stuff, let alone tried it" she shrugged.

They were walking through the park, both just wandering with no real destination in mind. They'd bumped into each other at a fork in the path and started walking together. Duke had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his thick coat and Mai had two pairs of gloves and a thick woollen scarf on, but they were still cold. Talking helped until they got to somewhere warmer. Since they didn't know each other all that well, they didn't really have anything reliable to talk about, which was how they'd ended up just swapping their likes and dislikes.

"It's delicious! You have to try it, I think you'd love it. I wonder if they sell it anywhere around here..." he trailed off and squinted at the shops edging the park in the distance. There was no way he could read the names of the stores and she couldn't help chuckling at his determination.

"You'll damage your eyesight if you keep doing that."

"Yeah, that's what my mum keeps telling me" he snickered, turning his head to face her again and wiggling his eyebrow.

"Wha-Ugh! I didn't need to hear that" she squealed, shuddering and looking away from him in mock disgust.

He laughed then suddenly stopped walking, a frown on his face. "Did you hear that?"

"What? Birds? You laughing?"

"No, that kind of...whistling noise. It sounded really close. Like, right by my ear or something."

"No, I didn't hear anything...uh, Duke, what's that thing on your coat?"

"What thing?"

"That little red dot" she blinked, "It kind of looks like one of those laser sight thingies they have in all those action movies" she added, only half joking.

He laughed nervously then took a step sideways, just to be safe. The little dot fell on the pathway instead, but was almost immediately lost in the small cloud of dust and leaves that suddenly flew up from the ground in it's place. Shrieking like a girl, Duke threw himself further from the point of impact. Mai just stared in shock and fear, unable to move. Was someone shooting at them?! She barely had time to comprehend this before she felt herself pulled down and towards the nearby bushes. She glanced at her sleeve and found Duke's un-gloved hand there. He had nice hands, quite long and slender, but still more masculine than feminine. Blinking, she wondered why on earth she was thinking about his hands when someone was trying to kill them. Safely nestled in the bushes beside her companion, she opened her mouth to ask a question, but was cut off by a husky, heavily accented voice coming from somewhere higher up the bank they were now squatting on.

"Aww, it's no fun if you hide!" There was a sigh, and then the sound of leaves crunching as someone approached, "Get out of the bushes, I'm not going to bother now."

Duke's face was twisted in fury. "You...you...YOU PSYCHOPATHIC SON OF A-" he threw himself out of bush and launched himself at Bakura as he screamed the rest of the insult.

Mai watched them wrestle on the floor, the gun lying nearby, apparently forgotten. She folded her arms and rolled her eyes as she leaned against a tree. There was nothing to do but wait it out.

----------

"I almost had him!" He insisted for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Yes, I saw. If he wasn't stronger, faster and more vicious than you'll probably ever be, I really think you could have taken him" she nodded, a smirk tugging at her glossed lips.

"Oh shut it" he growled, "I got some good hits in..."

"Uh huh. You pulled out a chunk of his hair and bruised his fist with your face."

"...I believe I asked you to can it."

"Well, it sounds as if you'd rather wander around on your own" she huffed, spinning on one heel and stalking off down a different path. She smiled to herself as he ran to catch up.

"Wait, Mai, I'm sorry, don't go? I'm bored as hell and I don't know what else to do...no offence."

She shrugged then grinned and petted him like a dog. "I'll stay with you."

He blinked then pouted. He had a nice pout. His lips were nice to look at. She didn't really even register what she'd thought this time.

"Ok! Shop trawling time, we need to find you some Turkish Delight!" He declared.

She rolled her eyes. "Are you still on that?"

"Yup. I really think you'll like it. Oh, oh! It's just like the Mai of food, y'know, all soft and elegant looking on the outside, but gooey and sweet on the inside."

"..."

"Yeah, I know, I'm sick."

Mai opened her mouth, only to find herself cut off once again, this time by a loud cracking and splashing sound somewhere to their left. They both turned to stare at the lake in the centre of the park. There was a big hole in the ice, and Serenity and Mokuba were dancing around on the opposite bank, obviously panicking. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened. They looked at each other then started walking again simultaneously.

"You think they'll be ok?" Mai asked, glancing back over her shoulder at the two figures that had surfaced in the hole they'd made. Judging from their closeness, she guessed they were still fighting.

"Pfft, who cares?"

"Duke..."

"Yeah, yeah, they'll be fine. They've gotten into worse situations because of their fighting before. Remember the bowling alley?"

She frowned. "I didn't think they were there. Wasn't it just Marik, Yami and Ba-"

"No no, not that trip, I mean Tea's last birthday. Remember?"

"Oooooh, yes, that one."

"Mmhmm. We almost had a death that time, I don't think falling in a cold puddle can be any worse."

"I suppose."

"Now! We keep getting distracted. Let's go into town."

She made a noise that could of meant anything and followed him as he started down a path that led out onto the street.

----------

"You just wait, it'll have been worth it, trust me" he grinned, rattling the pretty hexagonal box in his hands slightly as they strode down the street towards Mai's apartment. She gave him a look that clearly said, if he was wrong, he was going to suffer. Her hands, nose and lips were numb from the cold and her feet felt like they'd doubled in size. And then there were the blisters. And the burning lungs.

It hadn't been easy finding the damn stuff.

She fished around in her purse as they reached the door of her building. Wrestling her keys away from the rest of the junk in there, she stuffed the appropriate one into the lock. It was only once she'd inserted it and the rest of the bunch was dangling down in plain view that she noticed the unfamiliar keychain. Wait...not keychain. Tampon. Eep. She jerked the key in the lock and threw herself at the door to push it open, hiding her keys away again as she did. Duke strolled in behind her. If he'd noticed her bizarre decoration, he showed uncharacteristic tact and didn't mention it.

Peeling her coat off as soon as she'd let them into her apartment, she ran over to the thermostat and cranked it up. "Hey, do you want some hot chocolate once I can feel my hands again?"

"Ooo, yes please, that would be great" he said gratefully, wriggling out of his own coat, "In the mean time, want to have a little taste?"

"You're unnaturally obsessed with this stuff, you realise that, right?"

"Myeh" he shrugged, "You want?"

She hitched one side of her mouth up into a crooked smile. "Go on then."

He grinned and perched on the edge of the couch, the box on his knees. She settled next to him and watched as he lifted the lid off the box and peeled back the paper wrapped over the sweets inside. Her eyebrows raised slightly in approval as she laid eyes on the contents for the first time. The box was filled with little cubes covered in a fine, white powder that looked a lot like icing sugar. She could see the colours faintly through the powder. There was a choice of yellow or red. She picked up a red piece and sniffed it. It smelt good. Giving it an experimental lick, she found that the white powder probably was icing sugar. Suddenly quite hungry, she popped the sweet into her mouth. Her eyes widened in pleasure as she chewed. He was right, it was delicious. Oh god, something new to get fat on...

She swallowed and smiled happily. "Ok, you're safe."

He sighed in mock relief then ate one himself. Sliding the box along so it was resting half on his lap, half on hers, he swiped another one. They spent the next hour chatting about random and often slightly silly things as they worked their way through the rest of the box until there was only one piece left. Smiling, he slid the box all the way onto Mai's lap. "Help yourself."

"But I've already had more than you" she protested, "And you bought it."

He laughed, "Don't be silly, I bought it so you could try it, so you finish it. You've got a lot of catching up to do if you want us to be even, consumption wise."

She felt a tingle run through her as he laughed. He had a nice laugh. Honest and warm.

"We'll split it" she declared.

He grinned in amusement. "Then we'll need a knife, that'll be extremely messy to tear."

"We don't need a knife" she insisted. Not really thinking about what she was doing, she lifted the sweet out of the box, placed one end of it in her mouth and leaned towards him. He stared at her for a moment, eyes wide in surprise, then a blush crept across his face. Hesitantly, almost shyly, he leaned towards her too, hovering just on the brink of biting the other end for what felt like hours. Then he bit down gently. Their lips met immediately, the sweet not being all that large. It split in two and disappeared pretty quickly. Turkish Delight was good. Sugary kisses were better. It started out slow, neither really sure about what they were doing, but grew more passionate as time ticked by and they both realised it felt right. And good, very good. It didn't take too long for hands to start wandering, but they stayed on the surface. They weren't sure enough yet to go that far.

Eventually, they broke apart, both flushed and panting slightly. They stared into each others eyes, both trying to read the others' mind as they caught their breath. There was a few moments of silence, then Mai's lips curled into a smile and she slid gracefully to her feet. "Would you like that hot chocolate now?"

He smiled back and stood to follow her to the kitchen. "That would be great."


End file.
